# Arthur Brooks On How To Be Happy

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-dishcast-with-andrew-sullivan-1371188/arthur-brooks-on-how-to-be-happy
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-dishcast-with-andrew-sullivan-1371188/arthur-brooks-on-how-to-be-happy.md
Podcast: [The Dishcast with Andrew Sullivan](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-dishcast-with-andrew-sullivan-1371188)
Published: 2025-12-26T18:05:57+00:00
Episode link: https://andrewsullivan.substack.com/p/arthur-brooks-on-how-to-be-happy
Audio file: https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/182047393/23916c056a0154e9e556b67a7873e4b6.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-dishcast-with-andrew-sullivan-1371188/episodes/arthur-brooks-on-how-to-be-happy
Duration seconds: 2603

## Resource

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit andrewsullivan.substack.com Arthur is an academic and writer. The former president of the American Enterprise Institute, he’s a professor at Harvard Business School and the Kennedy School, where he teaches courses on leadership and happiness. The author of 13 books — including the 2023 bestseller he co-authored with Oprah Winfrey: Build the Life You Want — his latest is The Happiness Files , a curated collection from his “How to Build a Life” column at The Atlantic. He’s also the host of the “How to Build a Happy Life” podcast. An auto-transcript is available above (just click “Transcript” while logged into Substack). For two clips of our convo — how to prevent Trump from wrecking your mood, and how to open up your right brain — head to our YouTube page . Other topics: raised in Seattle by an artist mom and mathematician dad; converting to Catholicism as a teen; his early career as a French horn player; meeting his Spanish wife at a young age — and not speaking the same language; the risks that immigrants take; the British aversion to striving; walking the Camino de Santiago; his mother’s struggle with depression her whole life; how half of your happiness level is genetic; Charles Murray on religion; near-death experiences; Burke; Emerson; Oakeshott; animal impulse vs moral aspiration; Nicomachean Ethics; success as a false siren; Spinoza; our obsession with screens; the AI explosion; time management; the Daily Dish and my burnout in 2015; silent meditation retreats; the happiness of having a dog; Arthur’s work with the Dalai Lama; Buddhist vs Christian suffering; my deepest fear; my HIV test; the importance of failure for strivers; Stoicism; psychedelics; the Sabbath; the denialism over death; and how chang…

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## Transcript

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